Movie #234: The Big Sleep

Movie #: 234
Movie Title: The Big Sleep
Year Released: 1946

Director: Howard Hawks
Notable Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers, John Ridgely

Short Description: Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he’s seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: #92



Date Watched: 3/3/2013

What I Liked: The acting was generally well done, especially Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. I got a laugh out of the movie making you believe that an effective disguise is putting on glasses and flipping up the brim of your hat. There was also a humorous moment when a woman lets down her hair and Bogart’s character, turned on by her sudden appearance change, seductively says “hello”. The audience is then led to believe he successfully fools around with her.

What I Disliked: As with a few other movies I’ve seen already on this list, in my opinion there were too many characters and not enough character development for some of them. The movie seemed to deviate fairly quickly from should have been the main plot (blackmail) and took a long time to get back to it, focusing on murder instead.

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory)
Rationale: I wrote this review ten days after seeing the movie and I can barely remember most of it, which is a prime example of average movie.